Grimm: Tale of the Casters
by BeautifulAshes90
Summary: 17 year old Cember Mathison is introduced to Nick Burkhardt and gang by Trubel after saving her and her best friend, Maysen Simmons, from a group of Blutbaden. Trubel is fascinated by Cembers powers and a new breed of wesen called casters, a type of witch, that she's never heard of. Together the gang, with the help of Cember battle dangerous wesen and an evil caster called Ziera
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to my World

Chapter 1: Welcome to my world

Define normal; is it a family of 4, white picket fence, 2 story house? Or perhaps normal is going through life just doing the best you can with what you have?

But what if I told you what is normal to you isn't normal for me? I was born in a world not many of you could understand. Some call us the Devil's children, because they are afraid of us.

The truth is, not everything is what it seems. There are other kinds of people out there, you just aren't ready for us. We aren't evil; of course there are those of us who are good and bad, not unlike "the normals". That's what we call the regular humans with no powers or supernatural phases.

I have lived my life so far, in the 17 years I've been alive, wanting what everyone else considered to be normal. Again I ask, define normal. There are so many different translations, from all kinds of different perspectives, on what's normal.

Maybe I'm as normal as my kind will ever be, but nothing feels right about having to live in fear of showing one's true self without having to deal with the normals trying to run us off or burning our houses down trying to deliver themselves from evil that's upon them.

My name is Cember, by the way (I was born in December, which is why my mom chose to give me that name), and I'm a Caster, a breed of witch. Not to be mistaken as a hexenbiest. Just thinking about their woge makes me shudder. Unlike a hexenbiest or any other supernatural creature, a grimm sees the true nature of a caster. If they are evil, they look very very dark, almost grey skinned with blazing firey orange eyes. But a good caster's true appearance will look angelic, and our eyes are bright golden in color.

I'm not even sure grimms exist, I've only heard of them through stories my parents have told me, but why wouldn't they? My family and I are all casters, my dad died closing a portal putting away an evil caster named Ziera; my best friend, Maysen Simmons, who I grew up with, and his dad are both Coyotls (Maysen's mom died during giving birth to him, she was a kehrseite-schlich-kennen, a human who knows about wesen). There's all kinds of wesen.

Wesen is the more politically correct term for what we are. And tho we call the regular humans "the normals" the correct term for them would be kehrseite (humans who don't know about wesen).

"Cember, are you meeting Maysen at the park today?" My mom asked.

"Yes mom, I'm heading out right now." I said throwing on a coat and walked out the door. The park was only a 10 minute walk, Maysen lived half way there. He was waiting for me at the end of his driveway.

He smiled widely, "About time you showed up. I've been standing out here 15 minutes now."

"I know, you ready to go?" As much as I would like to say we were going to the park to just hang out, that wasn't the case. Maysen had gotten into some trouble with the law over some minor misdemeanor 5 months ago, and was given community service. He didn't want me to help him, just wanted me there to make it less boring, but I always help him.

He shrugged. "I'm as ready as I can be, I guess."

On our way there we saw a group of 4 men ahead, and it was apparent they had seen us too, as there were now walking towards us. "This isn't good." Maysen said.

"What?" I asked, wondering what he meant.

"They smell like weed and alcohol. And I can smell something off about them."

"Let's just keep walking passed them and just not mess with them." I said, trying to remain calm.

Maysen, looking at them intensely and said, "Yeah, we can try that."

As they were now right on top of us the tallest and roughest looking one stopped and looked at Maysen. "Hey kid, you got any cigarettes?"

"No. No I don't. Excuse us, we're just passing by. We don't want no problems."

The rest of the guys gathered around Maysen and me, Maysen was right, they did smell like weed and alcohol. "Ooo I love the smell of fear. Makes them taste so much better." One of the men said.

"Leave us alone!" I hollered angrily at them.

The tall rough one rushed at me grabbing my face and that's when Maysen woged. He attacked the tall one, but the rest of them rushed to assist their friend. All 4 of the men were woged, they were all Blutbaden.

I was just about to use a power force to throw them off Maysen when out of nowhere this woman with a black hoodie ran in and the next thing I saw was heads flying off. She looked at me and I saw her empty black pit eyes, there was nothing in them but my own reflection. "A grimm?" I whispered. She had cut all 4 of the Blutbaden's heads off. And went toward Maysen, clearly going for him next. I ran in front of him throwing my hands out in front of me sending a force toward the grimm throwing her a good few feet away from us.


	2. Chapter 2: My First Grimm

Chapter 2: My First Grimm

"What kind of wesen are you?" She asked staring at me with slight confusion on her face.

I looked back at her, my heart racing from what I had just seen in her eyes.

"You're a g-grimm!" I stammered.

The lady looked irritated with my responce. "Yeah, I know what I am. What kind of wesen are you?" She demanded once more.

"Caster. I'm a caster."

Still looking confused she insisted more information. "Caster? What's a caster?"

I stammered. "A t-type of witch, I guess you could say."

"Oh, you mean like a hexenbiest?"

I shook my head. "No, nothing like them." I woged for her again so she could see my true nature. "See. There's light around me. I'm a good caster."

The woman still looked confused, but relaxed. "The Coyotl, he's your friend?"

"Yes. His name's Maysen. He won't hurt you."

She half smiled. "Ok. What's your name?"

"Cember Mathison."

She helped Maysen up off the ground. "You ok kid?"

"Yeah."

"Who are you?" I asked her.

She looked at Maysen and me both. "Everyone calls me Trubel." She reached into her pocket bringing out a phone. "I gotta call Nick." She said dialing a number.

I wasn't meaning to snoop, but I over heard her saying something about looking through some books to find wesen called a caster.

"Yeah. Yeah, I just ran into these kids. They were surrounded by a group of Blutbaden. The boy is a Coyotl... But the girl... she called herself a caster... yeah, it's like a witch or something... no, no I've never seen anything like her. She had some sort of light around her when she's woged. Said she was a good caster?... yeah, yeah like I guess there's some that aren't good?... I don't know, but she's powerful, she threw me like 10 feet away from her and her friend, without even touching me, when I went to cut off his head after I saw what he was... yeah, when you find it send me the information."

when she hung up the phone she walked back over to us. "That was Nick, he's a grimm also, in Portland. He's looking to see what he can find out about what a caster is or does..." she looked over at Maysen, "sorry for almost cutting your head off kid, I thought you were with the bad guys."

Maysen nodded, still too shocked and slightly still a little too frightened to say anything. "Ok, well I'll get back with you as soon as I hear back from Nick."

"How are you going to find me?" I wondered.

She walked over to a large black motorcycle that looked super tricked out. Without looking back she said, "Don't worry, I can find anyone, anywhere, anytime. You both need to leave this area now."

"Maysen has to do community service at the park for..."

"I'll take care of that too." She interrupted and then she drove off.

Maysen and I paused a moment looking at one another and both gasped at the same time. Had we really just came face to face with a real grimm, and lived to tell about it? I looked at his face, he had clearly been in a scuffle. And I looked around at the 4 lifeless, headless bodies and 4 heads laying around us. Yes. It was real. We had really met a grimm, and she was completely awesome.


	3. Chapter 3: Portland

[ I would like to write a special thank you to my viewers, and the kind reviews, I honestly wasn't expecting them so quickly]

Chapter 3: Portland

"Trubel, Adalind found the information on these caster wesen you asked about in one of the books."

Trubel could hear Adalind in the background, "I found my first wesen for you guys!"

Nick chuckled at his wife. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah I heard." Trubel confirmed.

"Apparently you were right, there are good and evil casters. It says in the book;

_'I followed the grey skinned creature, she had some sort of darkness to her, almost like a shadow hanging around her. She never seemed to leave her human form. She went to an abandoned open field that once held a war between soldiers. She stopped in the middle of the field where there lay a large alter looking stone, where she stood reaching her hands toward the sky. As soon as she did this action lightning struck so fiercely on the tree I was standing behind. I looked up again to see her now staring right in my direction, then is when I had noticed her glowing firey eyes. She lifted her hand toward me, her hand cupped. I felt myself being lifted off the ground and the fact that I was struggling to breath from the feeling of being choked. I was certain this was going to be the cause of my death, when out of nowhere, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a beautiful woman. She looked human except for the light that surrounded her and her bright golden eyes. All I could think was this must have been an angel because right then she threw both her arms in front of her and with some kind of unseen force the grey skinned thing flew backwards some few yards away from me. This was where I took my leave, not knowing if I would be next or not. All I knew was I had nearly died, and I had presumably been saved. I later found out from another grimm relative that both these creatures were called casters._'

There's more in here about them too. Like they can literally make the choice to be evil or good."

"Ok, cool. Nick, I think this girl has a lot of potential. I'm bringing her to Portland, she's a teenager, so I'm sure her mother will be coming with her."

"Where are you?"

"I'm not far. I'm in Salem, Oregon. That's where Cember Mathison lives."

"Cember?"

"The girl I've been telling you about."

"Ok. Be safe, we'll see you when you get back."

In the background Trubel heard Adalind, Monroe, Rosalee, Hank, and Wu. "Bye Trubel."

"Can't wait to see you!" Rosalee said alone.

"What she said." Monroe agreed.

"See you guys soon."

Meanwhile: In Portland

"I looked up Cember Mathison. 17 year old, father died 4 years ago from, get this," Hank read the cause of death aloud to Nick, '_his heart gave out_ Seems a little strange to me someone who's in his mid 40's heart just giving out." Hank said suspiciously.

Nick pondered on it a moment. "Unless he was frightened or working himself too hard." He suggested. "Is that all it says about it? Just that his heart gave out? Nothing about what he was doing before?"

Hank shook his head. "Nope. Just says his heart gave out and case closed."

"Poor kid. Anything on mom?"

"She doesn't have any record. States she was with her husband when he died. She was crying too hard to get any details from her. She hasn't remarried."

"4 years, that's not a long time after losing someone close. She's probably been grieving too much to think about starting over."

Wu walked up propping himself half way on Nick's desk. "I did a little research on this Mathison family, turns out a witness claimed to have seen a massive vertical circling purple cloud and a strange evil looking woman being thrown into the cloud before it disappeared. Nobody believed her claims and had the woman put into a mental institution."

Hank looked over at Nick who was already looking at him. "Think we might have found out what caused dad's heart to give out."

"What we really need to know about this girl and her mom is, how do we know for sure they are good casters? And can change their mind and become an evil caster?" Wu questioned with slight concern in his tone.

"Well, Trubel trusts her. And we all know she doesn't take her trust lightly. We'll sit back, invite her and her mother to dinner at my place, have Monroe and Rosalee over. Get to know them. I'd like to find out what has Trubel so impressed with this girl."

Meanwhile: In Salem

I heard a knock on my door, to my surprise when I opened it stood Trubel. She wasn't wearing her hoodie over her head this time so I could see her short black hair. "Hey. Told you I would find you. Is your mom around? I'd like to talk to you both."

I nodded, in shock she actually did find me so quickly, considering I hadn't even given her my address. "Come in." Was all I could manage to say at the moment.

I lead her to the kitchen where my mom was prepping lunch, my mom looked up and smiled at the unknown guest to her. "Oh, hello. I didn't know we were having company."

"Ms. Mathison..."

"Oh no, just call me April." She laughed. "When I hear Ms. Mathison I feel like my mother-in-law is here."

Trubel smiled. "April. I'm not too good at this stuff really, so I'm just gonna get right to it. I met your daughter and her friend, Maysen, yesterday. They were attacked by 4 Blutbaden guys, I took care of them, almost cut off Maysen's head..." Trubel noticed the widely concerned expression on my mom's face after hearing that last part. "Buuut, you didn't need to know that. He's ok." She assured her. "Anyway, what I really needed to talk to you about is Cember... I have this, sort of...team, in Portland, and we could really use someone like her on it."

"You want to take my 17 year old daughter to another city?"

"You would be coming with her." Trubel assured her.

"Why do you need my daughter for your team?"

"April, I know that you and Cember are both good casters."

My mom looked over at me and then back to Trubel. She woged and panic shown across her angelic face. "No! No, my daughter isn't going anywhere with you nor am I! You need to leave my house!"

"Mom, Trubel isn't like the grimms you've read about. She's good. She saved Maysen and me from those Blutbaden. She wouldn't have done what she did if she was just going to turn around and kill us. Just please, hear her out."

"Just come with me and meet Nick. He's a detective in Portland. And his partner Hank. And the rest of my friends. I know your daughter is very powerful, I would like to see just how powerful she is."

"My daughter isn't some sort of lab rat. You know what she is, you know what she's capable of. I've raised my daughter to do good against all the evil that's around us. I won't let anyone use her to do evil. Further more, I lost my husband 4 years ago because he used every last bit of his energy to defeat the most evil caster, Ziera. I won't lose my daughter too."

Trubel nodded. "I agree. You aren't gonna lose your daughter, and she isn't just benefit for power. But this team is a family. I want you and Cember to be part of the family. And if you ask me, you could really use being part of a bigger family."

My mom stood there a brief moment, I realized she was looking into part of the future to decide what her final answer would be. She then looked at Trubel, "That's quite a family of friends you have." She smiled. "Ok. We will go to Portland with you. We have to pack first, could you give us about an hour?"

Trubel nodded. "Yeah. I have to go see Maysen real fast anyway."

Later: At Maysen's House

Maysen heard a knock on his door, he went to open it seeing Trubel holding a piece of paper.

"What is this?" He asked when she handed it to him.

"You've been freed from your community service and your record has been cleaned. Keep it that way kid."

As Trubel went to walk off Maysen stopped her. "How?"

Trubel shrugged. "Eh lets just say I know the judge here and he's an Eisbiber. It was easy for me to convince him." She smiled and started to walk off again.

"Cember called, she said you're taking her and April to Portland?"

"That's right."

"She's my best friend..."

"I don't have enough room for you and your dad."

"My dad couldn't go anyway, but he wouldn't care if I went. I already asked him."

"Ok, fine. you have 10 minutes to pack some things. I'm leaving in 10 minutes with or without you." Then she walked to a Ford Raptor truck, in the back was her giant personalized motorcycle, and got in it.


	4. Chapter 4: A Dinner For Grimms

Chapter 4: A Dinner For Grimms

We arrived in Portland at 6 that evening, Trubel took us on to Nick and Adalind's house. The beautiful blonde woman was cooking dinner. She greeted us with a warm, welcome smile. "Now, who's this young man, I don't think you mentioned him coming." She said looking at Maysen.

"This is Cember's boyfriend, Maysen." Trubel told her.

"What?! No, no. No. No, no, no. He's just my friend." I looked over at Maysen who was now shy and blushing.

Adalind smiled with a hint of disbelief in what I was telling her. "Oooh I see. Well, welcome to la casa de Burkhardt, just friend Maysen." She laughed. "I'm Nick's wife, Adalind, by the way."

A beautiful blonde girl looking to be about the age of 10 walked into the room, she looked just like Adalind. "Mommy, who are these people?" She asked curiously.

"Diana, these are our guests. Say hello."

The girl smiled and politely said hello as her mom had instructed her. She walked up to my mom and looked at her a moment. "You're sad. You lost someone you loved a lot. Your sadness will soon be eased though."

My mom stood quiet not saying anything, Adalind seemed to pick up on my mom's feelings because she quickly jumped in, "Diana.. honey why don't you go get your brother ready for dinner."

"But mom, Kelly's old enough to get himself ready." She argued.

Adalind gave her a stern look. "Diana, I said get your brother ready."

The girl sighed. "Fine."

I soon found out who Kelly was, he was a 5 year old, and he absolutely loved to talk. "My best friends, Justice and Monlee, are coming over! They're my best friends in the whole world. I don't like their sister, Rosabell."

"Hey, you leave my little Rosabell alone." Trubel said getting onto him jokingly.

"That's right Kelly." Said a man just as he walked through the door, following him were two more guys. "She might end up being your wife some day."

Kelly made a disgusted face. "Eww no! I'm not marrying Rosabell, I'm marrying mommy." The boy laughed.

The guy who was talking to Kelly ran over to him and began tickling him. "You can't marry mommy, mommy is mine." Oh, so this was Nick Burkhardt, I realized.

When the tickle fight was over Nick walked up to me, "Cember?"

I nodded.

"And April...and I think you must be Maysen." My mom and Maysen both nodded to confirm. "Great. we're so happy to have you all here. This is my partner detective Hank Griffin, and sergeant Wu."

Both men shook each of our hands. "Nice to meet you all." They both said at the same time.

"Monroe and Rosalee are on their way. I just got off the phone with Monroe and he said that he and Rosalee were chasing three 4 year olds around the house getting them ready." Nick said with a chuckle. "Is there anything you need me to do to help set up the table?" He asked after giving Adalind a kiss.

"Nope. I've got it all set up already."

1 hour later:

Nick answered the door, on the other side was a bearded man and a beautiful, but very tired looking, woman. 3 young kids ran passed them and Nick through the door. The little girl bumped into me, when she looked up at me she nervously woged. She was probably the cutest little fuchsbau I'd ever seen. "Our little early bloomer." Said the man walking into the house. This had to be Monroe and Rosalee and their triplets.

Adalind grabbed Rosalee pulling her to a chair at the dinner table. "_You_ look absolutely exhausted!"

Rosalee sighed resting her head into her hands. "They're little monsters. I thought the terrible 2's were bad, but this is the terrifying 4's. I'm telling you I liked to have never got them dressed. I mean they were _literally _bouncing off the walls!"

Adalind poured her some warm tea. "Drink this." She insisted. "And after dinner, you're taking a little power nap. There's enough of us here to entertain all these kids for you to get some much needed rest."

"Thank you." Rosalee smiled.

All the kids took their seats around the table, as did everyone else. Nobody really talked while we were eatting, I watched Trubel get a second and third plate of food. She really loved to eat!

"Ok, off to a nap for you." Adalind said pushing Rosalee to another room.

The kids all got up from the table and started up their own little game of hide and seek. I could hear Kelly's voice carry as he counted for the rest to go hide. Rosabell ran to me, "Help me hide."

I giggled. "Here, under the table." I whispered.

when Kelly had counted to 20 he yelled out, "Ready or not! Here I come!" And he quickly began searching for his friends. He found Justice first behind the long window curtain, and then found Monlee next, in Kelly's toy chest. He continued searching for Rosabell walking into the den, as soon as he spotted her under the table, he quickly lifted the table cloth and yelled excitedly, "Found you!"

Rosabell screamed and woged again. She climbed up into my lap, "I don't want to play this anymore."

Apparently Diana had heard the girl say she was done playing, she walked out of her hiding place, "I won! Nobody ever finds me in hide and seek." She said skipping off to her bedroom.

"What's wrong with my little Bell?" Trubel asked her.

"Kelly's eyes scare me." She said curling up to me yawning and rested her head against me.

"What's that mean?" Maysen asked, looking at me.

"Kelly's eyes scare you?" Hank asked Rosabell.

"Mmhmm."

All the men shared a glance. "You don't think Kelly is...?" Wu started.

Nick looked at his son. "How would we even tell for sure?"

"Well I'm not really sure, I think one of us would need to woge to find out."

Monroe started to shift his face but Nick stopped him. "Probably not you."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Well, who of us could do it without scaring him? Even Maysen might be a little too much, being a Coyotl."

Nick looked puzzled a moment, then looked at me as if a light bulb had just went off in his head. "Cember.." He suggested.

I agreed to woge in front of Kelly to find out if he was also a grimm. Nick called his son over. "Cember may look a little different for a second. Ok?"

"Different how daddy?"

"Just, different."

When Kelly's attention was on me I woged, one of his eyes were just like I had seen Trubel's, an empty black pit. His other eye was normal.

"Is Cember woged?" Hank asked.

"Yeah, she is." Trubel answered.

Kelly smiled, "Daddy, Cember is an angel!"

I shook off my woge. "Yes. At least partly." I confirmed.

Nick, Monroe, Hank, and Wu all walked to another room to talk amongst themselves.

"Kelly's part grimm. He's starting to see what I can see now." Nick said with concern in his voice.

"What does partly mean?" Hank asked.

"I don't know. I didn't want to go into it in front of the kids, it might scare them."

Monroe nodded in agreement to Nick's statement. "Yeah let's not do that. Wouldn't want Rosalee waking up from her nap finding out we might have scarred our children for life."

"Bit dramatic on your point, but I agree with you." Hank said. "Maybe when you and Rosalee go home we can ask Cember for further details on what she saw?"

"Nu-uh. No chance. This I want to hear with my own ears with you guys." Monroe insisted.

Nick had all the kids to go into another room so the grown ups could talk. Rosabell was fast asleep in my lap. "Lets not wake her." Nick said.

"I'll take her to the livingroom and sit with her." My mom volunteered, then I felt the little sleeping girl being lifted from my arms, she floated easily into my mom's arms. She left the den with her still sleeping soundly.

Nick grabbed Adalind. "Honey, the kids were just playing hide and seek, and when Kelly found Rosabell he startled her and she woged... when she crawled into Cember's lap she said Kelly's eyes scared her. Cember woged in front of him and said that he was also a grimm, at least partly."

Adalind's jaw dropped. "Wait, what does _partly_ mean?"

"We don't know yet." Monroe chimed in.

"We didn't want to talk about it any further in front of the kids." Hank told her.

They all looked at me. "Ok, go ahead and tell us." Nick said.

"when I woged only his right eye was like yours and Trubel's. His left eye was completely normal."

Adalind, still in disbelief, and clearly not ready to hear this new information, looked to Nick. "What are we going to do? If wesen see it they might kill him." Worry filled her voice.

Nick hugged her tightly. "No-one will _ever_ hurt our children." He assured her.


	5. Chapter 5: All the GrimmDearGames?

Chapter 5: All the Grimm.. Dear.. Games..?

Rosalee awoke feeling refreshed from her nap. Much to her surprise she found her little girl sitting in my lap. "Oh, wow, I've never seen her like that with someone she's just met so quickly." she said smiling at me.

Monroe jumped up, "Honey! You're awake." He excitedly walked over to her, giving her a kiss. Nick, Hank, and Wu shared a glance with one another apparently about how Monroe seemed to be so nervous. Course, they couldn't blame him. His wife had been taking a nap when their daughter, who began her woging a little too early, had seen her first grimm, or half grimm.

She smiled at him, but clearly could sense his off behavior. "What's going on? Did I miss something?"

Kelly giggled out, "Aunt Rosalee, Maysen looks like a doggy!!"

Her eyes now wide with confusion she looked at Maysen who was sitting on the floor with the little boy, us all gathered around him in the livingroom. "Oh, he's playing doggy with you?" She asked him playfully.

"No. He turns into a doggy." The boy giggled again.

Monroe closed his eyes tightly and pursed his lips. "Honey, the kids were playing hide and seek, Rosabell asked Cember to hide her, Kelly startled her when he found her and she woged...and said that Kelly's eyes scared her."

Rosalee's eyebrows drew together. "Kelly's..eyes.. _scared_ her?"

"She saw Kelly's eyes look...not so like Kelly's eyes." Nick said, hoping she would understand what he was saying without drawing too much attention to the fact none of them had any idea what was going on with Kelly, not fully.

Rosalee did get it. "Noooo..." she gasped. She looked at her daughter, still sitting in my lap clinging onto me.

"Honey, she's ok. She hasn't been hearing a lot of what we've been talking about... you know... with the whole G word thing. Cember's mom, April, she took our sleeping baby girl in here and sat on the couch with her. She wanted Cember back as soon as she woke up."

"She's really taken to Cember." My mom confirmed.

She looked over at me. "I see that. Did you find you a new friend?" She asked smiling at Rosabell, slight concern still showing on her face. "What's Kelly talking about Maysen being a doggy?"

"Oh, Nick asked me to just do some woges in front of him." Maysen answered her.

"Coyotl." Monroe whispered to her.

Remembrance shown across her face. "Ooooh. Right." She looked over at Adalind who looked just as concerned as she was feeling. "How are you handling all this?"

Adalind shrugged shaking her head. "I don't know. I wasn't expecting anything like this. Not this soon amyway. I mean I knew eventually it might be something we would be facing. But I wasn't thinking this soon."

Rosalee walked over to her and hugged her. "We will figure this out. Kelly is going to be just fine." She assured her.

"Do it again! Do it again!" Kelly requested excitedly to Maysen.

Maysen smiled. "Ok." He waited a moment then woged, but to where only a grimm coukd see him.

"I don't see anything." Said one of Rosabell' s triplet brothers, I couldn't tell who was who.

"I see him." Kelly giggled.

Maysen did a playful expression. "You guys can't see me?" he asked, "Hmm. Hold on. Let me try again." He woged, fully this time where everyone could see him.

Justice and Monlee both laughed and clapped their hands. "Maysen is like you, daddy, and sissy, mommy. He changes too."

"Yes, I see that." She said smiling at her two sons.

"Look, it's late, we are all a little surprised about this..." Hank started.

"I'll second that." Wu agreed.

"Why don't we just all call it a night, get some rest, and start fresh tomorrow?"

Everyone agreed, Monroe and Rosalee gathered their kids. "It was so nice to meet you guys." Rosalee said to us as they were leaving.

Hank and Wu said their goodbyes and left. Trubel said goodnight to those of us who were still at Nick and Adalind's house, and went to a bedroom.

"We have two extra rooms with beds in them." Nick said to us, Adalind was already getting Kelly and Diana settled in for the night. Nick showed me and my mom to one of the bedrooms with a queen bed in it. And showed Maysen to a room across from the room we would be staying in, it also had a queen bed in it. He told us all goodnight and that he would see us first thing in the morning.

My mom got settled in and was already starting to go to sleep, I was about to try to get some sleep myself but Maysen asked me talk a minute.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"Oh, nothing really. Just.. you know how Trubel made the comment about me being your boyfriend?"

I laughed. "Oh my god that was so embarrassing!"

He lightly chuckled. "Yeah. Yeah I guess it kinda was.. but it wasn't really too embarrassing.."

I felt my smile fade. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I mean," he paused, "I mean.. why's that so embarrassing? Why would that be so hard for you to see? Us being boyfriend and girlfriend?"

I studied his face, he was being serious. "You don't think that would be weird? We've been best friends since we were both 2... we're more like brother and sister."

He turned his brown eyes down to the floor. "Maybe when we were younger it felt like we were brother and sister." He swallowed. "Now... I find myself feeling like we could be more than best friends. Definitely more than brother and sister." He looked back at me.

I didn't know what to say. I never felt anything more than a friendship with him. Now here he was basically telling me he wanted more than that. "I don't want to talk about this."

As I started to walk out of the room I looked back at him, he was clearly upset and had woged when I had turned to leave. I didn't want to hurt my best friend, but I also couldn't get myself to think like he was thinking. Not in that moment anyway. "Goodnight, Maysen." I said. I could feel his hurt as if it were my own hurt. He said goodnight as I was closing the door behind me. I stood at the door a moment and looked into the future, I visioned Maysen and myself somewhere, I couldn't tell where exactly, but we were standing in front of each other. Our surroundings seemed chaotic, I couldn't tell what was going on around us, but it felt like something big was coming to an end. He pulled me to him and kissed my lips. "Come back to me." He said after he stopped kissing me.

I came out of my vision and I shuddered. _I can't let this happen_, I thought to myself. I had to keep everything on a friendship level, a relationship could possibly jeopardize that, and I wasn't chancing it. Now that I knew some part of my future, I could stop at least that part of it.


	6. Chapter 6: It's In His Kiss

Chapter 6: It's In His Kiss

That next morning I awoke to Diana standing on my side of the bed. She smiled at me. "I'm about to make chocolate chip pancakes, would you, your mom, and your boyfriend like some?"

Still blinking the sleep from my eyes. "He's _not_ my boyfriend."

"He will be." She said with no trace of a smile. "April is gonna have a boyfriend soon also." She said looking over at my mom, who was still sleeping.

I didn't see any chance of that happening, she was still very much so in love with my dad and had no plans on replacing him anytime soon. Though I had to admit it would be good to see her happy with someone again. My dad wasn't coming back, and he definitely wouldn't want her to be lonely forever. Part of me did kind of hope that Diana could be right about my mom, but the other part of me knew that if she was right about that part, she was also right about Maysen. "Do you need help making the pancakes?" I asked her as I was getting out of bed.

"No. I've been cooking for a while now, thank you." She smiled and left the room.

As I walked out into the hall, Maysen was also walking into the hall, I could feel my face blushing from my own awkwardness. "Good morning."

He nodded. "Morning."

Was I sensing a bit of coldness? "Did you sleep alright?" I asked, trying to confirm if I was just being paranoid.

"I slept fine." He answered flatly, and then walked passed me.

He _was_ being cold toward me. I didn't know how to feel about that. We'd been best friends for so long, now, even tho I was trying so hard not to risk ruining that friendship with a relationship, our friendship was still going in a bad direction, or that's how it was feeling.

I stepped down the hall and into the bathroom, as I closed the door behind me I looked into a near future of Maysen and me. In the vision this time we were here in Nick's house in the room Maysen was sleeping in. I looked at the clock and it read 7:37am, the date was June 12th, which was the current date, which meant my vision would take place in about 1 minute from the current time. We were standing in front of each other, seemingly in a disagreement.

I came out of the vision and stormed into the dining room where he was. "We need to talk."

Maysen looked somewhat alarmed but followed me into the room anyway. "What's up?"

"What is your problem? huh? you gonna act pissed at me all day? Or forever? Just because I won't be your girlfriend? "

"Cember, I'm not pissed." He insisted.

"Oh, really? So that's why you're sulking and half-ass talking to me?"

Confusion shown across his face. "Cember, I just woke up and walked out of my room..."

I wasn't listening. "You want to see how I know we aren't meant to be more than friends?"

"I mean, yeah, I wou..." Before he finished his sentence I quickly walked up to him and pressed my lips to his and kissed him. For a brief moment he seemed confused and shocked, but recovered pretty quickly grabbing onto me and kissing me right back. Our breathing became heavy and my head started to spin as my body felt shock waves from my head to my feet. I pulled away, still breathing hard. That wasn't how I had thought it was going to go. I wasn't supposed to like kissing him.

He stepped toward me and kissed me again. This time he held my face in his hands and it seemed to go on forever in slow motion. I definitely liked kissing him. It felt natural somehow. Our movements seemed so synced, like we shared the same thoughts.

He slowly moved down to my neck kissing gently on the way, I sighed, then came back from whatever blissful place I was in. Gently pushing him away to catch my breath. "Ok...um, I...I think Diana probably has those pancakes ready."

"Yeah." He agreed, still breathing a bit heavy.

When we walked back out Diana looked at me and smiled. "I told you." She said cockily. Then her eyes turned bright purple and without touching a single dish with her hands she set the dining table with everyone's plate of food and a glass of orange juice. "Breakfast is ready everyone." She called out so that everyone could hear.

Trubel was the first to walk into the dining room and sit down, followed by Nick and his lovely wife, Adalind, and Kelly. My mom came in shortly after them. Maysen and I sat next to each other.

Nick smiled. "I hope you all slept well."

"I did." My mom said. "Thank you both very much for having us here in your beautiful home. And Diana thank you for this wonderful breakfast."

Diana smiled.

"The pleasure is all ours." Adalind assured my mom. "Honey, I don't have to work today, I think I'm gonna show April around. Have a kid free mommy day and do girl stuff. Maybe see if Rosalee would like to come along so she can get a break from the triplets. I already called the babysitter, she will be here in about an hour. She said she would watch all the kids, so Monroe will be able to work on his clocks without any interference."

Nick smiled. "I think that is a great idea. I'll call Monroe right after breakfast and let him know to have Rosalee bring the kids on over."

"Thank you, Adalind, I really would like that. I haven't had a girls day in quite some time."

Adalind smiled. "I figured as much."

"Would you two like to come to work with me?" Nick asked me and Maysen.

"Hell yeah!" Maysen said before I could even answer.

Nick chuckled. "Trubel, you've been quiet. What are you doing today?"

Trubel swallowed the food that was in her mouth. "I don't know yet. I'll probably see what Meisner is up to."

"You two seem pretty close. You guys not dating yet?"

Trubel blushed. "Nick."

Nick laughed and threw his hands up. "ok, ok. Too personal. I get it."

Trubel smiled.

30 minutes later:

I was in the middle of getting dressed when Maysen walked in the room my mom and I were staying in, he had already gotten dressed and I had to admit was looking pretty good. He looked different. The way he was now carrying himself was different. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was that was different about him, but whatever it was, I was definitely attracted to it. He walked up to me standing in my jeans and only a bra since I hadn't found a shirt yet, and grabbed me up for a kiss.

I giggled. "I have to find a shirt, you're distracting me."

He grinned. "I like you without a shirt."

"Well that's too bad. I can't go around in just a bra everywhere I go."

He kissed me again. "Ok, I guess you're right. I'll let you finish getting dressed now."

As he was walking out I sat down on the bed, was this really happening? My best friend and I were now together... like boyfriend and girlfriend...and it didn't feel as weird as I had thought it would.


	7. Chapter 7: When We Were Detectives

Chapter 7: When We Were Detectives

Hank and Wu were surprised to see Maysen and I walking into the precinct with Nick. "We have interns in training?" Hank asked jokingly.

"I thought I'd bring them along, Adalind is doing a kid free mommy, girl day thing with April and Rosalee... I didn't think they would want to be stuck with all the kids and a babysitter."

"I got you. Well, we already have a case."

"And it sounds wesen to me." Wu said with a discrete tone in his voice.

Nick raised his eyebrows. "What makes you say that?"

Hank dropped some pictures in front of Nick, in the pictures the woman seemed untouched, with the exception of two perfect large snake like fang holes on her neck. "These were taken last week by North precinct, they turned it over to us."

"Yeah, definitely gotta be wesen...but what kind? There's no scratches anywhere else on her body?" Nick asked studying the pictures.

"I know!" Wu exclaimed. "That's why they handed the case over to us. Nobody else wants this kind of paper work."

"Well, guys, I guess we're going to our first investigation." Nick said to me and Maysen.

"You three, I need to see you in my office...bring your two guests." A tall man said, looking at us.

"What did we do this time?" Wu asked as we all were walking to the man's office.

Nick was the last to walk into the office shutting the door behind him. "You needed to see us?"

I looked at the man's desk and saw a plaque that read _Captain Sean Renard_.

"Who are your friends?" He asked.

"This is Cember Mathison and Maysen Simmons. They're my company, I thought I would bring them along with me today."

The captain looked at us and nodded in approval. "Just don't draw any attention to them and if anyone asks they are interns."

Nick, Hank, and Wu all nodded in agreement.

"Diana is excited to see you tonight." Nick said to him.

The captain smiled. "Not as excited as I am to see her. Which brings me to what I was going to run by you. I've been seeing someone for a few months now, and I think it might actually be getting serious. She wants to meet Diana, and I think it's time to introduce them. Of course, I will need to run it by Adalind."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, tonight when you come to pick up Diana you can have dinner with us and talk about it then if you like."

Captain nodded. "I think I'll do just that."

"Is that all you needed, Captain? We were just heading out to our crime scene."

The captain dismissed us.

"Did anybody know Cap had a girlfriend? For a few months now, _and_ he thinks it's serious?" Wu asked Nick and Hank.

"I hadn't seen any signs of him with anyone." Nick admitted. "But I don't get involved in his personal life if I can help it."

"That's true, but if he's getting serious with someone that means she's more than likely going to be coming around when he picks up Diana, possibly even picking up Diana herself. That puts her around Kelly and Adalind." Hank said.

"She must be pretty impressive if he's getting serious with her, and he would never put Diana in any kind of danger. I'll worry about all that tonight at dinner."

"Want us to come over?" Hank asked.

Nick laughed. "Hank, I think between a momma Hexenbiest, two casters, a Coyotl, and a grimm or two, we got it covered."

At the crime scene:

Nick knelt down to look at the body, it was the exact same as the woman in the pictures. Two large snake like fang bite marks on the jugular, but nothing else on the body. "Neither victim show signs of a struggle." Nick said, looking puzzled.

"What all wesen has two fangs and kills it's victims like this?" Hank asked.

"Time to hit the books?" Wu asked with raised eyebrows.

Nick shook his head smiling. "It just warms my heart how hungry you are to learn about all these wesen." He said jokingly.

Hank busted out laughing, Wu looked vaguely offended. "What? How else will we figure these things out?"

"Ol' Wu, he's all dedication." Hank said through laughter.

Nick was still laughing too.

"Ok, laugh it up boys. But who's gonna be laughing when I'm able to tell you both what kind of wesen it is at a crime scene without needing the books." Wu said walking off.

Nick and Hank thought about it. "That even possible?" Hank asked, now serious.

Nick pondered on it. "There's a lot of wesen.."

I looked at the bite marks. "Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"These bite marks... I think I know what kind of wesen it is."

"Really?" Nick asked with surprise in his voice.

"Yeah. I'm pretty positive."

"Hey Wu!" Hank hollered out.

Wu came running back over. "Yeah?"

"Cember thinks she knows what kind of wesen it is."

Wu raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What are you thinking?"

I examined the bites once again. "I can't be absolutely certain... but I'm pretty sure it's Nachzehrer."

Wu's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"

"Nachzehrer." I repeated.

"_And_ what is that, exactly?"

"I guess it's like a vampire?"

Maysen sniffed the air. "Whatever it is, it's not far off."

"Nachzehrer won't be out in the daylight. But wherever he or she is hiding out away from the sun could be near it's feeding ground."

Nick, Hank, and Wu all looked at me intensely. "How do you know about this?" Nick asked.

"My mom ran into one a long time ago in Salem, it was terrorizing the town. She took care of him tho."

Hank raised his eyebrows. "I do not want to know what she did to him, do I?"

"Probably not." I agreed.

"Maysen, could you sniff out the location?" Nick asked.

"Sure."

Maysen started walking ahead of us, stopping occasionally to sniff around. He brought us to a bridge that wasn't too far off from the crime scene. "I can't smell him anymore. His scent stops here."

Nick, Hank, and Wu drew their guns and began investigating along the bridge.

"He's not here, but I found a wallet near some bushes. Maybe we'll get lucky and this will belong to our guy." Nick said opening the wallet. "Belongs to a Karl Markaski."

"From Lafayette, Louisiana." Hank read off the license. "He's a good way from home. Could be our guy."

"Yeah, or was a snack for our guy." Wu chimed in. "I'll run the license and see what else I can find."

"I'm calling Monroe to see if he's heard of this, Nachzehrer."

Monroe picked up on the 4th ring. "Hey, Nick?"

"Monroe, I got you on speaker. Hank, Wu and I are on an investigation, we have Cember and Maysen with us. Our victim was found with only two large fang holes on the jugular. Cember said it could be something called a Nachzehrer. You know anything about that?"

"Nachzehrer? Oh hell yeah! I'll get out the books and try to find it. Nick, it would be better if you all came by the spice shop."

"Ok, on our way."

At the Spice Shop:

"Any luck on the books?" Nick asked Monroe.

"Yes." He said placing the book on the table in front of all of us, and began reading it;

Nachzehrer

_"The nachzehrer is known to be a recently deceased person who returned from the grave to attack family and village acquaintances._

_A person does not become a nachzehrer from being bitten or scratched; the transformation appears to happen only after death and is not communicable._

_Typically, a nachzehrer devours its family members upon waking._

_Some Kashubes believed that the Nachzehrer would leave its grave, shapeshifting into the form of a pig, and pay a visit to their family members to feast on their blood. In addition, the Nachzehrer was able to ascend to a church belfry to ring the bells, bringing death to anyone who hears them. Another lesser known ability of the Nachzehrer is the power it had to bring death by causing its shadow to fall upon someone. Those hunting the Nachzehrer in the graveyard would listen for grunting sounds that it would make while it munched on its grave clothes._

_The ancestors believed the only way to kill a nachzehrer was by placing a coin in its mouth, and then chopping off its head. It's believed that a mere coin in the mouth may result in paralysis making it unable to fight."_

"So, how do you get the coin in its mouth?" Nick asked sounding a bit unsure of the ancestors method.

Monroe shrugged. "That it doesn't say."

"Wait, Cember, you said your mom killed one of these things, right?" Hank asked.

"Yes, but I highly doubt she put a coin in its mouth."

"Did she say how she killed it?"

"No. But I'm sure we could ask her."

"It's attracted to blood, right? So we could just make up a blood potion and put it on someone to lure it in." Monroe suggested.

"Could you and Rosalee get something like that mixed up?" Nick asked him.

"Definitely. We will get it fixed up tonight and you can come by and grab it whenever you need it."

"Great. Now we just need the bait..."

Monroe shook his head. "Nuh-uh, not me, not this time."

"I'll be the bait this time." Hank volunteered.

"Hank's taking one for the team." Wu said nudging Hank with an elbow.

"Thanks Monroe, I'll get back with you soon." Nick said as we were leaving.

"Alright man. See ya."

"When are we going to talk to April about how to kill this thing, because if I'm putting myself out there for bait, I want to know what to do in case worse comes to worse."

Nick nodded. "I don't want to interrupt their girl's day, so I'll ask her tonight at dinner."


	8. Chapter 8: Blown to Bits

Diana ran to the door excitedly, knowing it was her daddy. Captain Renard walked in taking her into his arms for a big hug. "We have a plate set up for you at the dinner table daddy."

"Oh well thank you." He said setting her down to the floor. He walked up to Adalind, the two hugged. "Did Nick tell you I had something important to discuss with you?" He asked her.

"He did." She admitted. "Yes, Nick mentioned something about, a _special _lady in your life?" She said grinning.

Captain Renard looked at Nick, who was grinning as well. "Yes, a very special lady."

Nick shrugged. "She has...ways of getting things out of me."

"Ew." Trubel mumbled.

Both Adalind and Nick snickered.

"Could we discuss this somewhere in private?" Captain Renard asked.

"Sure we can talk about it in the grimm-cave." Adalind suggested.

"Grimm-cave?" Captain asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, it's like a man-cave, only better because it's for grimms." Trubel explained.

"Yeah, pretty much that." Nick agreed.

"Alright."

* * *

In the grimm-cave:

"So tell us about the _special_ lady."

"Could you stop saying special like that?"

Adalind laughed. "Sean, relax, I am taking this seriously but you are acting like you are terrified to talk to me about this. I know you wouldn't be bringing it to me if it weren't serious and I also know that you wouldn't bring her around our daughter unless you really trusted her. I think it's great that you're finally settling down with someone. And so will Diana if she sees her daddy is truly happy."

"Ok. Her name is Aziya, she's 42, we've been seeing one another for about 7 months and we're thinking about taking the next step."

"Marriage?" Adalind asked.

"Well, 7 months is a little too soon to be talking about marriage, but yes, in the near future I plan to ask her to marry me. Right now we are talking about her moving in with me. And that's why I needed to talk to you. Once she's moved in Diana will be around her anytime she is staying with me."

Adalind nodded. "Right. Well tomorrow why don't you and Aziya take her out for an ice cream and go to the park, so the two of them can get acquainted and spend some time together. That will give me time to tell her you have someone you'd like her to meet and how special she is to you."

"Thank you."

"Great, now let's eat." Nick said.

* * *

Dinner :

We all ate in silence for a little while, the children ate in the livingroom so they could watch TV and the adults could talk.

Adalind was a really good cook, which I guess made sense, she is a hexinbiest, following recipes would be her specialty.

"So, is anyone gonna bring up the case?" Maysen asked looking around at me, Nick and Captain.

"Well I wasn't sure if it was a good topic to go over while eating, but now that you brought it up, April, Cember said you had a run in with a Nachzehrer, and we were kind of hoping you could tell us how to take care of one, if that's what we're dealing with."

"Did you bring the case photos?" I asked Nick.

He got up from the table to look through his jacket pocket. "Got them right here." He handed the pictures to my mom.

She studied the pictures a moment. "It does look like it could be."

"Monroe said something about putting a coin in its mouth and then chopping its head off...but I'm pretty sure that's probably just a grimm thing."

Trubel laughed out. Everyone looked at her in silence. "Oh, um, sorry. It was just funny. To me." When no-one else joined in with her laughter she shrugged her shoulders then continued eating.

"Well, I didn't use a coin in its mouth. But if you prefer to follow your ancestors..."

"No" Nick interrupted her, "that method sounds a bit.. challenging. I was really hoping that your method would be better, I have my doubts about the coin thing anyway."

"Why don't you start with telling us about your encounter in Salum."

"Oh that dreadful place." She mumbled. "I saved those ungrateful fools and all they could talk about was hanging the little witch."

Nick looked at her sympathetically, "I understand if you rather not talk about it..."

"No, I'm fine. I was 16, my mom found out about my powers when I was just a little girl, she kept me sheltered and hidden until I was old enough to understand that I couldn't use them in front of the simple minded people."

"Was your mother a caster?" Adalind asked.

"No. My grandmother was, I guess it skipped a generation."

Adalind nodded.

"The town people started hearing bells in the middle of the night. Some heard them, some didn't. Three bells, the first one was very faint and each got louder than the next. The town people who heard them would go looking to see who was at the church, assuming it was the church bell. The next morning their dead bodies were found with only two holes on the jugular of the corpse.

The Nachzehrer tormented Salum for weeks. People were too terrified to go anywhere at night by themselves, so they started going out in small groups, which didn't solve anything, the groups were being slaughtered.

One night I was out with some friends, my mother thought I was studying with my best friend, Angela, I was with her, but we were with a small group of other teen girls and boys, not studying. We were being young and stupid, up to no good. Going to look for the monster that was reeking havoc on our town.

I heard the first bell, it was almost too low to hear. The bell did sound like the church bell, but it rang slow, the sound lingered a moment. Of course I asked if anyone else had heard the bell, one boy said he had heard it also. The others told us we were hearing things. Then the second bell rang a little louder, the sound was deeper, and longer. A couple other teens spoke up that they heard the bell that time.

We ventured to the church, only to find the church was locked and that the bell was perfectly still. The third bell rang, it sounded like it was coming from right behind us. When we turned around there stood a tall dark figure, the shadow seemed as tall as the trees, it towered over us.

The shadow started moving toward us, it felt as though it were literally falling over us. That's when I ignored everything my mother had ever said to me about having to keep my powers hidden. My friends were in danger, I had to save them, and myself.

I stared at the giant shadow throwing up a force field between it and us. That's when the shadow formed itself into some sort of being. It didn't look human, its skin was grey and dead looking, I could see bones in spots where skin had apparently been torn off it.

It made grunting and snarling sounds as it tried to get past my shield. Other town members were running outside to see what all the screaming and commotion was about.

I did the only thing I knew to do to keep the creature from killing anyone, I pushed the force field around the creature surrounding it and crushed it."

"You crushed it?" Captain Renard asked. "How?"

"Adalind, do you have anything here that you aren't attached to and wouldn't mind being destroyed?" I asked.

She looked around. "Um... well, there is that concrete dog thing that Monroe made..."

"Adalind, that was a gift for our friendship anniversary, might hurt his feelings if he noticed it missing." Nick said.

She rolled her eyes, "I know, but honey it's so bulky and I stump my toe on it all the time..."

"Ok. Just saying he's gonna notice it's gone. He put it in that spot so everyone can see it when they walk into the room."

"He's a man, he'll never notice it. Men don't pay attention to detail."

"Its Monroe, he'll notice."

Adalind shook her head. "You can use that thing."

April looked back and forward at Nick and Adalind both. "Are you_ both_ sure?"

"Yes." Adalind urged looking intensely at Nick.

Nick pursed his lips, "yes, go ahead."

My mom stood up and moved her hand upward, the concrete figure rose off the ground, she spread her fingers widely apart and formed a shield all around the figure, still holding it in the air. Then with one fast motion she clapped her hands together forcing the concrete figure to burst into tiny bits.

"Like that." I said, looking at captain Renard.

Everyone was silent for a moment looking at the destroyed concrete pieces. "So I guess I can tell Monroe the blood potion isn't necessary?" Nick asked.

My mom shrugged, "It might speed up the process in it finding you."

"So, what happened, you know, after you blew it up?" Trubel asked.

"Everyone in the town, including all my friends started calling me and my family witches. They burned down our house, planned to hang me and my family. It forced us out of the town. You know the rest."

"So when are we gonna crush the Nechzferrmm...thingie?" Trubel asked.

"Nachzehrer?" Nick asked smiling and raised eyebrows. "I have to see if Monroe has the blood potion ready, and see if Hank's ready to be bait. But I don't think we need all the extra help... April, would you mind coming along with us so when our guy, er, thing shows up?"

"Wait a minute, Nick! I wanna see this thing's guts fly everywhere when he explodes." Trubel insisted.

Captain Renard had his hands on his hips looking warily at Trubel. "I'm worried about you."

Trubel shrugged getting her third helping of food. Adalind was looking a bit concerned at her as well, I think we all were at that point in time. Not about her rather troubling amusement in beheading creatures or wanting so badly to see guts splattered everywhere, but about the large amounts of food she could consume in one sitting. "I mean, where does she put it all?" Captain Renard asked unable to take his eyes off her.

"None of us know that." Nick answered.

*Intermission*

[Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I apologize for the long break, I will be reading my story from the beginning before adding the next chapter. I hope to post more soon. If you're reading this and you're on "lock down" due to Covid-19 please be patient with me, I know you're bored to death lol]


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